Pastors Launch "No Confidence" Petition Drive Against Emanuel
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Vowing a full day of protests across Chicago, activists were keeping up the pressure for major changes in Chicago after the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
With protesters already repeatedly calling for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign, and some even pushing for legislation to allow voters to remove him from office, Trotter and two other South Side ministers have begun a petition drive seeking a vote of "no confidence" in the mayor.
"Our mayor's ratings are dropping daily, and people need to have a way to protest, who cannot necessarily march," said Bishop Larry Trotter, pastor of Sweet Holy Spirit Church.
The pastors said the petitions would be used in support of proposed legislation in Springfield that would allow for a mayoral recall election in Chicago.
"This is war, and in war there are going to be casualties, and there are going to be friendly fire. So it's going to be some friends of ours that's going to go down, and it's going to be some casualties, but at the end of the day victory shall be ours," said Bishop James Dukes, pastor of the Liberation Christian Center in West Englewood.
The ministers said the petition drive will continue through the end of the month, after which the petitions will be delivered to the mayor as a message to him.
"This pain continues to mount in and around our community, and we can't and won't take it any longer," Bishop Tavis Grant said.
Bishop Larry Trotter said there would be protests all day on Friday regarding the McDonald case, and he said he would be personally asking Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans to appoint a special prosecutor to handle the case against Officer Jason Van Dyke, who is charged with murder in McDonald's death.
Protesters have said they have no confidence in Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, after it took her more than a year to file charges against Van Dyke.
The bishops also said they want the city to stop fighting efforts to release another police shooting video.
Grant noted, while Emanuel was making an emotional address to the City Council on Wednesday – in which he said he recognized keeping the video of McDonald's shooting out of the public eye for more than a year helped contribute to the public's distrust of police – city attorneys were in federal court, fighting efforts to release a different police shooting video.
"If the mayor meant his apology, release this video, because people are about to register in hundreds, if not thousands, this no confidence vote," Grant said.
Dukes said the ministers would be distributing the petition at malls, barber shops, churches, and many other locations to collect the same number of signatures that would be required as part of a mayoral recall petition.
"The same 85,000 signatures that's needed, we're going to deliver those signatures, and we're going to deliver them to the mayor's office on the fifth floor," he said.
Other community activists have turned their sights on Chicago aldermen for their role in the scandal, demanding answers about why they approved a $5 million settlement for McDonald's family without first learning all the facts of the case.
Tio Hardiman, president of Violence Interrupters, NFP, said they haven't lost focus on their mission to oust Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, but he said there is "enough blame to go around."
Meantime, in North Lawndale, some of McDonald's relatives were expected to speak Friday morning at Grace Memorial Baptist Church. It would be the first time a member of McDonald's family has spoken publicly since the dashboard camera video of his shooting was released two-and-a-half weeks ago.